Removed features
Having been in development for nearly four years, Crysis ultimately had many removed features that can be seen in earlier trailers. Many of these features relate to gameplay concepts that were ultimately too difficult to implement in CryEngine 2. Story and design Original story The original story for the game did not feature Dr. Rosenthal, his daughter, or the research team; early trailers seem to indicate the entire United States invasion was never part of the early plot. The game was originally set in 2021, then 2019, before 2020 was settled upon (some marketing materials continue to use incorrect dates). The alien ship in the original plot came to Earth in 2021 as an asteroid that is discovered by the North Koreans; in the final game, the ship has been on Earth for 2 million years and is discovered by the archaeological team. Original nanosuit The nanosuit underwent many changes during the design process, leading to many different nanosuit designs seen in promotional artwork. The nanosuit on the original game's front cover, for example, looks nothing like the actual in-game nanosuit; the cover's nanosuit is blocky and silver-colored, while the game's nanosuit is streamlined and black. The faceplate design also differs between promotional artwork pieces. It is believed that the player was originally able to customize their nanosuit's appearance. Gameplay Upgradable nanosuit As seen in early trailers, the nanosuit featured more than four suit modes, and was claimed to be "upgradable" during the course of gameplay. The interface to change suit modes was much different in the early versions of the game; instead of a five-spoked wheel (the four suit modes and weapon customization), the interface was a box with several rectangles inside that represented different modes. The ability to change the nanosuit's appearance was also originally included, explaining the varying nanosuit designs seen on official artwork. Squad gameplay Jester and Aztec were not supposed to be killed at the beginning of the game, Prophet was not supposed to be kidnapped, and Psycho was not supposed to go on his own mission. Instead, early prototypes of Crysis clearly demonstrated a squad gameplay mechanic completely absent in the final game. The player and his Raptor Team comrades would work in tandem, mimicking the player's actions and abilities. In this early mechanic, Nomad, the player, was the leader of the squad, not Prophet. Open world While never explicitly stated, Crytek heavily implied Crysis was supposed to be an open world game. This concept was kept somewhat in the final game, as each level is open completely and nonlinear, but the idea of having the entire island open to the player was cut. The player in early builds of the game is clearly shown entering and exiting the ice sphere at will, something that only happens for storyline purposes in the final game. Additionally, the ice sphere itself appeared earlier in the original version of the game, and was thus a normal part of the island available to the player to explore. "Action bubbles" and smart AI While the artificial intelligence in Crysis is advanced, earlier versions of the game demonstrated much smarter AI than in the final game. These AI prototypes would set traps, call in backup, and use more advanced maneuvers than the AI present in the full game. "Action bubbles" were a scrapped concept where large clusters of enemies could call in reinforcements from across the island. TAC ammo "TAC" ammo was a feature available to the player and heavily demonstrated in early trailers, yet completely missing in the final game. TAC ammo allowed the player to fire hidden darts into enemies, then activate a device that would kill all affected enemies instantly. A variant of this idea is the sleep darts attachment, which serves a somewhat similar purpose. Category: Crysis